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A London-area man convicted of impaired driving called his jury trial in the death of his niece "a railroad job" before he was sent to prison for four years.

During his sentencing hearing, Brian French, 58, complained about unfairness and vowed he would appeal his convictions for impaired driving causing death, two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm and failing to remain at an accident.

The crash on Dec. 22, 2007, killed his niece, Alisha Albert, 29, and divided French's family and the community.

French was in court without a lawyer after firing his last counsel following the guilty verdicts in November. He said there was "a lot fishy" about his trial.

Albert was a back-seat passenger in a car travelling on Chippewa Rd. on Chippewas of the Thames with three other people when French's car hit them from behind, sending the car rolling into a ditch and ejecting Albert.

French's car ended up in an opposite ditch. He was seen walking away from the car toward his home.

French attended a London hospital the next day and had officials there call police. A blood sample was taken and scientists calculated his blood-alcohol level would have been three times the legal limit at the time of the crash.

Court heard French had been drinking beer all afternoon and into the evening, at his brother's house.

DNA collected inside French's car closely matched French.

Before he was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Peter Hockin, French listed what was wrong with his trial, from the performance of his lawyer, who "sold me out," to an allegation the people in the other car were Oxycontin addicts.

"I'm certain I was drugged," he said.

He questioned why both vehicles were destroyed to "see where blood was taken and blood was found."

"This is just a real railroad job to be found guilty because I'm not guilty," he said. "And I'm going to appeal it, no matter what the sentence."

French said his lawyer wouldn't allow him to testify or call witnesses he had lined up. The Crown's witnesses "are lying against me. They're all Oxycontin addicts."

He claimed he wasn't driving that night and was in the back seat of the car. He said he has "a big problem" with the police officers, claiming they received his blood "in unsealed vials."

"That blood could be used to set me up down the road," French said and questioned why there was "more alcohol" in the blood once it was taken to Toronto for testing.